LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
In Brief |
ACTION ALERT: Urge Rep. Castle to Cosponsor ENDA
Because it remains legal in 38 statesincluding Delawareto fire someone because they are gay, lesbian or bisexual, ask Representative Mike Castle and your U.S. Senators to become original co-sponsors of federal legislation to prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. Representative Castle especially needs to hear from his constituents on this legislation. Please take action today. Take a moment to fax Representative Michael Castle urging him to sign on as an original cosponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2001 (ENDA). To send a FREE fax, log onto www.hrc.org and click on "Take Action." Once in the Action Center, click on the ENDA alert to send your faxes. We have prepared language for you, but you have the option of personalizing the letter if you wish. This legislation, which will provide basic protections against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, is set to be introduced in the new 107th Congress in the next few weeks. But please take action NOW. One measure of a bill's strength is the number of original cosponsors who agree to add their name to the bill when it is introduced. It is important for your Members of Congress to be original cosponsors of the bill to show the widespread, bipartisan support that exists for passing ENDA this year. Please forward this e-mail to family and friends, ask them to contact Rep. Castle and ask him to take this important action in the fight for equality. Library Friends to Gather in Rehoboth The Friends of the Rehoboth Beach Library will hold their annual fund-raising Cocktail Party on August 16 from 6-8 p.m. This year the party is moving from the Pines to a home in North Shores. The $25 ticket includes an open bar and oceans of food from more than 20 of Rehoboth's finest restaurants. (You will not need to go out for dinner after this party!) The Friends of the Rehoboth Beach Library raise money to buy books for the Rehoboth Library and to provide funding for other non-budgeted items and improvements. For further information and to receive an invitation, call Priscilla Smith at 302-227-8259 no later than August 13. An Evening at HTP with Paula Vogel Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel will be in town for one night only on Tuesday, July 31 for a special benefit performance in her honor from the Henlopen Theater Project. In addition, there will be a party afterwards at Celsius to benefit The Camp Rehoboth Women's Project. Vogel won a Pulitzer for her play How I Learned to Drive, and is the author of The Baltimore Waltz, playing now through Aug. 4 at the Little Theater at Cape Henlopen High School. The special July 31 event, An Evening with Paula Vogel will also be on stage at the Cape Henlopen High School theater and is open to the public. It will feature Emmy winner Sada Thompson, cabaret entertainer Christopher Peterson and actor Cotter Smith. Ms. Thompson, well known for TV's groundbreaking series Family, appeared last summer for HTP in A.R. Gurney's Ancestral Voices. She'll return to perform a scene with local professional actress Roo Brown from the play The Oldest Profession. Cotter Smith, who will be performing in this special benefit event appeared off-Broadway in Vogel's Pulitzer winner How I Learned to Drive and at D.C.'s Kennedy Center in Art. He's also a familiar face from TV appearances in Murder, She Wrote, L.A. Law, Chicago Hope, and Law & Order. In addition to an emotion and entertainment-filled evening at the theater, there will be a party following the performance with playwright Vogel and her special guests at Celsius Restaurant on Wilmington Ave. in Rehoboth Beach. The event will benefit Camp Rehoboth's Women's Project. Tickets for the 8:00 p.m. performance are a suggested donation of $15; tickets which also include the party at Celsius are $25. The evening is expected to be a sell-out, so call the Henlopen Theater Project today at 302-226-4103 to reserve your tickets. On The Wings of a Cosmic Rainbow Volunteers for Sundance 2001, the huge two night summer finale fund raiser Labor Day Weekend, are getting ready for the big August push that always makes the event such a success. During the past few weeks Sponsor, Supporter and Host information was mailed. "If you didn't receive a host or sponsor form," says CAMP Rehoboth's Kathy Weir, "just stop by the office or give us a call. The important thing now is for us to know by August 5, in time to be included in the printed material for the event. You can fill out the form on page 29 of this issue, or visit the Sundance 2001 web site at www.sundancebenefit.com." The Sundance web site provides an easy way to purchase tickets and order t-shirts and prints, as well as sign up to be a Host, Supporter and Sponsor. This year's Sundance theme is The Divine Order of the Wings of the Cosmic Rainbow, and uses butterfly imagery pulled from Murray Archibald's 2001 Sundance painting transFORMation. "When you go to the web site," Kathy says, "just click on the wings of the butterfly." Sundance 2001 provides major funding for Sussex County AIDS Committee and CAMP Rehoboth. To volunteer for the event, call Kathy Weir at CAMP Rehoboth. Cup of Caring Helps Sussex PWAs The Delaware HIV Consortium is sponsoring a "Cup of Caring" event from July 28 through August 4, with proceeds going to the Michael Brossette Memorial Fund. This program provides financial assistance for non-emergency needs to those living with HIV/AIDS in Sussex County who may be otherwise ineligible for support through government-funded programs. Since its inception last Fall, the fund has awarded more than $4,000 in assistance to HIV-infected individuals. During the week of July 28 to August 4, participating coffee shops and restaurants in Sussex County will donate a portion of their proceeds to the Delaware HIV Consortium, a statewide non-profit organization that coordinates the Michael Brossette Memorial Fund. Participating shops will receive t-shirts for employees and customers, posters and flyers to use as advertisements, and "Cups of Caring" for customers who wish to make additional donations. Twenty-two coffee shops and restaurants in the Rehoboth and Lewes area have offered their support to the event. They include: The Coffee Mill, Stoney Lonen, Fusion, Caf Sol, La La Land, Tutto Bene, The Buttery Restaurant, Browseabout Books, Double L, Dos Locos, Lori's Caf, Jakes Seafood, Our Place Restaurant, Blue Plate Diner, New Amsterdam Gourmet, Cloud 9, Blue Moon, Iguana Grill, Brew Ha Ha, Celsius, Ocean Club Restaurant, and Yum Yum. The Delaware HIV Consortium's Executive Director, Sue Weimer, says that this "Cup of Caring event is a way for the Sussex County and beach communities to help those living with HIV and AIDS. Our Board of Trustees designed the Michael Brossette Memorial Fund to honor his wishes by building a financial safety net for people living with the disease who might otherwise 'fall through the cracks' of the system." The program was named for Michael Brossette, who died from AIDS in 1997 and whose memorial gifts provided the initial funding for the program. For more than 16 years Michael was an active and giving member of the Rehoboth Beach community. He was co-founder and co-owner of two Sussex County restaurants, Celsius and Cloud 9. Additionally, his services to the community included serving as President of the Board of Trustees for the Delaware HIV Consortium, as a board member of CAMP Rehoboth and of Building Futures: Family AIDS Housing, and as President of the Baltimore Medical Systems. Rehoboth Beach Town and Cottage Awards Nominations are being accepted for the 5th Annual Rehoboth Beach Town and Cottage Awards. The awards recognize and encourage residential and commercial property owners who contribute to the charm, beauty and ambiance of Rehoboth Beach through preservation, restoration/renovation, new construction, and landscape design. The committee, which operates autonomously from any government body, hopes to encourage those who make significant contributions to our community. Anyone can nominate a property, you need NOT be a resident or property owner. Properties must be located between the southern entrance of Cape Henlopen State Park, the south shore of Silver Lake and East of Route1. The work on the property must have taken place within the last 5 years. Nominations may be made by submitting a completed form (available at CAMP Rehoboth) accompanied by supporting color photographs, no later than August 1, 2001. Winners will be announced August 11, 2001. Mixed Bag at the Blue Moon New Works by Rodney Cook The Blue Moon Restaurant is showcasing a new collection of paintings by Baltimore/Rehoboth artist Rodney Cook during the month of August. The show of recent watercolors, called Mixed Bag, opens on August 1, with an Artist's Reception on Saturday, August 4 from 2-4 p.m. Mixed Bag is a response to Rod's previous immersion into the hot colors and lush foliage of orchids and other tropical plants. This year's work plays with the more muted shades of autumn leavesyellow ochers, muted lavenders, pale blue grays and burnt siennas. Rod talks with excitement about discovering the leaves of the umbrella magnolia and combining them with sycamores and seed pods from bittersweet vines, Japanese lantern plants and unidentified pods from a tree in the park around Lake Gerar in Rehoboth. "I started to create elaborate still-lifes in my studio," he says, "I filled an entire refrigerator with bags of various leaves. They stay remarkable mold free, colorful and fresh for months in sealed, plastic bags." Along with the increasing complexity of the leaf compositions in this year's work, Rod is also painting Amaryllis against a deep open landscape. "At first the idea began with a backyard," he says," but quickly spread to changes of season, geography and color. The back drop of a picnic table, led to a winter snow scene, an Arizona chaparral, the insanity of Times Square, and Mrs Edward Hopper without any clothes. The show is called Mixed Bag because the emerging paintings are a new mixed stew of familiar ingredients." Rod currently teaches drawing, painting, and design at Maryland Institute College of Art, Villa Julie College, and the Community Colleges of Baltimore County. He is also involved with the Fish Out Of Water project in Baltimore, where 150, six by three foot fiberglass fish have been painted and decorated by local artists. Rod's design titled "Fish Family Values" was chosen by Bank of America, completed June 15, 2001, and can be seen through November 4 in their fountain in downtown Baltimore. The Blue Moon is located at 35 Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth. Rodeo Weekend in Rehoboth The Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA) is once again herding-in local cowgirls and cowboys for its annual beach rodeo weekend... Yee Haw! This year's event, "Dance On Delaware," adds a party flavor to the weekend in celebration of ASGRA's Tenth Anniversary. Much like last year, the weekend will be a myriad of events, including: a Chaps Fantasy contest at the Double L Bar on Friday, Aug. 3 at 10 p.m., beach rodeo events at the Renegade, Saturday, Aug. 4 from 123 p.m., and culminating with the "Dance On Delaware" at the Renegade from 6-8 p.m. "ASGRA has many members that spend their summers, or live near the Delaware beaches. This annual event is a way to keep them involved and remind rodeo fans in Delaware that they are an integral part of our association," says David Hehr, President of ASGRA. "Although our rodeo, held in September, is our largest and most visible event, we are far more than that. One of our goals, and, in fact part of our mission is to continue our outreach to all the communities within the ASGRA association and educate them about rodeo, the elements of the country western lifestyle, and ASGRA itself." The event brings a bit of the "West" to the Eastern Shore. So plan to come out during the August 35 weekend and kick-up some dust with the ASGRA cowboys and cowgirls. Be sure to join them for Atlantic Stampede 2001 Rodeo Weekend, on September 7-9 at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg, MD just outside of Washington, DC. Cowboy-Up! |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 11, No. 10, July 27, 2001. |